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COURAGE IN A GOOD CAUSE; 



§hc fniuful and (JfounifieouH %ht of the ^luord 



A. SEJ^IVtOiSr 



GEORGE DUFFIELD, Jr.., 

PASTOR OF COATES STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. 

DELIVERED APRIL 21, 1861. 

LIBEHTAS ET ANI5IA NOSTRA IX DUBIO ES T. — C A T O. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



T. B. PUGII, STATIONER, 

N. W. COR. SIXTH &. CHESTNUT STS. 



' » 2)85 



IIE.N'KY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK ASD JOB PRISTER, 
No3. 1102 and 1104 Sansom Street. 



PniLADELPUiA, April 12, 1861. 
Rev. George Ditffield, Jr., 

Rev. and Dear Sir, — We, the undersign- 
ed, believing that your Sermon, on Sabbath evening the 21st inst., would 
be highly appreciated by the community, and your own people be grati- 
fied to possess it, respectfully request that you will furnish us with a copy 
for the purpose of its immediate pul)lication. 

Very respectfully and truly yours, 

James Morrell, J. P. White, 

Joseph Aitken, G. W. Grice, 

S. L. Kirk, A, Deverill, 

R, S. Bower, S. Bradbury, 

AVm. Bald, Wm. Elliott, 

AVm. Seeley, 11. Aitkin, 

Charles C. Aitkex, John Lyle, 
John T. Smith, Wm. Stewart, 

and others. 



PiiiLADELriiiA, April 23, 18G1. 
Messrs. James Morrell, 
Joseph Aitken, 
S. L. Kirk, 
R. S. Bower, and others. 

Gentlemen, — The MS. is at your ser- 
vice. At such a time as this, every church should shoAV its colors, and 
while I am happy to recognize among the names appended to your re- 
quest, the representatives of all varieties of political opinions, now har- 
moniously blended into one, I note with especial interest the fact, that 
among these names are three of the descendants of the enterprising and 
patriotic publisher of the old Congress Bible. 

The title of the Sermon is borrowed from a discourse delivered in my 
native county, the year before the Declaration of Independence, viz.: 
" Courage in a Good Cause: or. The Lawful and Courageous Use of the 
Sword. A Sermon preached near Shippensburg, Cumberland Co., on the 
31st of August, 1775, to a large audience, in which were under arms, several 
companies of Col. Montgomery's battalion, and published at their request. 
By the Rev. Robert Cooper, A.M. Jehovah nissi, i.e.. The Lord ray 
banner. Exodus svii. 15. Lancaster, printed by Francis Bailey, 1775." 
pp. 30. The test is, "When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, 



and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than tlwu, bo not afraid 
of them : for the Lord thy God is -with thee, ^yhieh Ijrought thee up out of 
the land of Egj-pt." Deut. xx. i. 

Let me quote a single sentence. " If our souls are possessed of the 
fear of the Lord, v^e need not fear them who can only kill the body. A 
.soul prepared for heaven, will as easily and joyfully, [perhaps I may say, 
more so,) find its way thither from a field of battle, as from a bed of down ; 
will as cheerfully ascend from amidst roaring cannon as weeping friends. 
As God is with his people in danger, so also in death, which is an end to 
them of all danger. Can, then, any thing so effectually inspire a soldier 
with true courage, as that which raises him above the fear of death ; nay, 
makes death itself appear a desirable event? For blessed are the dead 
who die in the Lord, since they rest from their labours and their works do 
follow them." 

Perhaps it may be p^roj^er for me to add, that as the best practical ap- 
plication of my discourse, I have this daj' offered my services to the 
Governor of Pennsylvania as Chaplain of one of the Philadelphia regi- 
ments. 

For God and for our Country, 

Respectfully and sincerely, 

Your friend and pastor, 

GEOllGE DUFFIELD. Jr. 



SERMON. 



"And this kxow, that if the (ioomiAX ok the hov.se had kxown what 

HOUR THE THIEF WOULD COME, HE WOULD HAVE WATCHED, AXD XOT HAVE 
SUFFERED HIS HOUSE TO EE BROKEX THROUGH." LuKE xii. 39. 

"But xow he that hath xo sword, let him sell his c.armext, axd buy 
oxE." — Luke xxii. 3G. 



The object of this discourse, is, to respond to the recent 
Proclamation of the President of these United States, 
and cordially and entirely to endorse the action of his 
Cabinet, in raising from this and other portions of om* 
Commonwealth, a sufficient number of soldiers to oppose 
the further progress of rebellion, and secure the exist- 
ence and efficiency of our General Government. 

I invite jouv serious and candid attention to this sub- 
ject, mainly in the following order. 

I. The duty of a minister of the Gospel to preach on 
such an occasion as the present. 

IT. The lawfulness of defensive war, both according 
to the Law of Nature and the Law of God. 

III. That the war in which our Government is now 
engaged is a defensive Avar, and as such, a lawful one. 

IV. That a war such as God approves, he considers as 
his own cause, and to help it by all proper means, is to 

COME UP TO THE HELP OF THE LORD. 



G 

I. The duty of a minister of the Gospel to preach on 
such an occasion as the present. 

Knowing tliat the Sacred Scriptures are intended to 
teach not only what man is " to helieve concerning God, 
but also what didjj God requires of man," it is obvious 
that in their proper time and place, duties are as much 
to be preached as doctrines. If civil or political duties 
are among those wdiich God requires of man, and for the 
discharge of which he holds every man accountable, then 
politics, in the true sense of that much abused word, 
is a part of the word of God, and mud be included in 
the instruction of the pulpit. It is not optional for the 
preacher to preach any or every truth that may suit his 
own convenience, and the ordinary opinions of his hearers. 
If he would not handle the word of God deceitfull3% he 
must be careful to explain and enforce those that are 
more particularly, and it may be, imperatively/ demanded 
by the exigencies of the times. 

The prophet of Bethel must cry against the altar of 
Samaria, even Avhile the king is standing by it to offer 
incense. Elijah must denounce the " God of Ekron," 
though Ahab and Jezebel join together to slay him. 
John the Baptist must reprove Herod for his profligacy, 
though at the end of his discourse, the imperial mandate 
is issued to bring the faithful preacher's head in a 
charger. So Peter before the Sanhedrim, and Paul at 
Ephesus, and Stephen at Jerusalem ; the message must 
be delivered, whatever becomes of the messenger. Let 
" the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and 
Alexandrians, and certain of Cilicia and Asia," say what 
they will to resist the truth, yet the truth must be 
spoken — even though it be followed immediately on its 
utterance by a volley of stones. To all time-serving 



Amaziahs, either in the ministry or out of it, who on 
this or anv similar occasion, woukl prohibit ns from 
touching on any topics pertaining to the common welfare, 
we would commend the indignant reply of Amos. 

" Go," said Amaziah, '' ! thou seer, flee thee away 
unto the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and pro- 
phesy there ;" /. c, prophesy against idolatry in Judah, 
where there is no idolatry ; " but prophesy not any more 
at Bethel, for it is the king's chapel and the king's court," 
politely intimating that Amos might get himself into 
trouble if he should preach against idolatr}', where there 
was a special call for such kind of preachiny. 

'•' Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was 
no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son, but I was an 
herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. And the 
Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said 
unto me. Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Now, 
therefore, hear thou the word of the Lord." (Amos vii. 
12-16.) 

The man who is wanting, either in the natural or 
moral courage, to declare the word of the Lord, whatever 
may be the consequence to himself, personally or rela- 
tively, in carrying out his words into individual action, 
will look in vain to find his name either in letter or in 
spirit, in that bright scroll of high characters (Hebrews 
xi.), vvith those who, "through faith, subdued kingdoms, 
stopped the mouths of lions, waxed valiant in fight, 
turned to flight the armies of the aliens." It w^ill not 
be with Moses, and Joshua, and David, in ancient times; 
Avith Zwingle, and Calvin, and Knox, in the days of the 
Reformation ; with Mayhew of Boston, Rogers of New 
York, Caldwell of Elizabethtown, and Bishop White and 
Dr. Duffield of Philadelphia, in the days of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. 



8 

Away with all objections to the winds that would en- 
deavor to prevent us, this night, from endeavoring to the 
full extent of our feeble ability to imitate their example ! 
We owe it alike to the cause of the Christian religion, 
and that of American liberty, to show that the last of 

ALL PLACES IN THE UNIVERSE, BEHIND WHICH FOU COWARDICE 
TO SKULK OR FIND REFUGE, IS THE HOLY BiBLE.* This VCry 

copy that I now hold in my hand, is one of the rare edi- 
tion published by authority of the old Continental Con- 
gress in 1781, the first edition of the Bible in the Eng- 
lish language ever printed in North America. Strange, 
indeed, would it be, if that book which was the chief 
support of our Fathers in achieving the existence of 
our nation, were not of equal value in enabling us to 
PRESERVE it, now that it is in such imminent peril. 

We open then this holy volume and read as follows : 
'' And this know, that if the good man of the house 
had known what hour the thief would come, he would 
have watched, and not have suffered his house to be 
broken through." 

These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, 
of the truth of whose words, either as a man, or a Chris- 
tian citizen, or a Christian minister, I have never yet 
seen any reason whatever to be ashamed. To illustrate 
spiritual things by temporal, he supposes the case of a 
father of a fomily, whose house is in danger from rob- 
bers ; his duty is twofold — first, to guard against sur- 
prise ; secondly, in case of attack to defend his family 
and property to the last extremity. 

* " Be not ye afraid of your adversaries," said Nehemiah ; '• remember the 
Lord which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and 
your daughters, your wives and your houses." iv. 14. Similar was the lan- 
guage of Judas Maccabeus, a true disciple of the patriotic Nehemiah: "It is 
better for us to die in battle than to behold the calamities of our people and 
our sanctuary. Nevertheless, as the will of God is, so let him do.' — 1 Mac. iii. 59. 



9 

The illustration seems to have been suggested by a 
well known law of Moses, which is found in Exodus 
xxii. 2. ^' If a thief be found breaking into a dwelling" 
(in the dead of night,) " and he be smitten that he die, 
there shall be no blood shed for hwiJ' By that very act 
of the robber in making himself like a wild beast rather 
than a human being, and assaulting the life of another, 
he has forfeited his life, and his ])lood is upon his own 
head. 

Tracing this law of Moses back to its origin, we find 
it in that which has been justly called the primary law 
of nature, viz. self-defence. According to the common 
consent of men, in every age, it requires no argument to 
prove, that if a man be attacked in his own person or 
property, or in the person of his wife or children, " it 
is lawful for him to repel force b}^ force ; and the breach 
of the peace which happens is chargeable upon him only 
who began the fraj^" Blackstone, Lib. III. ch. i. 

" The great natural right of self-preservation, (says 
Dr. South, vol. iv. 273) which is equally full in par- 
ticular persons and in public bodies, is the very first- 
born of all the rudiments of nature ; and the very ground 
and reason of its actions ; not instilled by precept, but 
suggested by instinct. A man is no more instructed to 
this, than he is to be hungry or thirsty when nature 
wants its due refreshment. In this particular, the Rights 
OF Nature are not abridged by the Christian Religion." 
The simple truth is, that the religion of Christ every 
where establishes the doctrine of natural rights ; tells a 
man what these rights are, and bids every man to defend 
them for himself and others to the full extent of his 
ability. Thus by a very easy and natural argument we 
arrive at the conclusion, that as an act of self-defence. 



10 

war in certain cases is equally permitted by tlie law of 
Nature and the law of God. Aggressive war, such as 
is now waged against us by the Anarchists of the South, 
is nothing but a complication of robbery and murder. 
Defensive war is merely the united efforts of several 
persons to defend themselves against a common inroad 
and enemy. It is, therefore, equally Icmful ivitli self- 
defence in an individival ; and this we are prepared to 
prove, alike from the word and conduct of Christ, from 
the teaching and example of the great Apostle of the 
Gentiles, and from the almost uniform and well estab- 
lished practice of Christian citizens, in every age of the 
Church and in every quarter of the world. 

In the days of the Millennium even this defensive 
form of warfare shall not exist, for when " there shall be 
naught to hurt or to destroy in all God's holy mountain," 
there will be no occasion for it, The sword shall indeed 
be beaten into a plough-share, the spear into a pruning- 
hook, and the "chariot burned with fire." 

No longer hosts encountering hosts 

Their millions slain deplore, 
They hang the trumpet in the hall, 

And study war no more. 

But SO long as the present disposition of mankind pre- 
dominates, so long as men will attack and destroy the 
life, liberty and property of their fellow men, there is 
just the same kind of demand for an army, as for a body 
of police in a city. Defensive war is absolutely neces- 
sary and absolutely lawful.* 

A nation which should adopt the contrary doctrine 
would be undone. Just as this very Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania came near being undone by the prevalence 

* Instar omnium. See Grotius de Jure belli ac pads. 



11 

of this doctrine in the House of Representatives, when 
her western borders were invaded by the French and 
Indians. Nox-resistanoe may sound well enough in 
theory, and find many specious reasons to defend it, 
but most lamentably does it fail in practice. 

AVhen Philadelphia was young, and the magistracy 
was in the hands of the Friends, its port could only 
l)oast a single sloop. A band of pirates coming up the 
river, carried off the sloop, and by the judicious display 
of guns, pikes and other slaughter-weapons, thus laughed 
the owners of the sloop to scorn. What did the Society 
do? They issued commissions, raised up an armed 
band, retook their sloop "as magistrates!" and made the 
banditti prisoners. And they did right. Just as Wil- 
liam Penn did right, when, A.D., 1701, in his speech to 
the Assembly of this State, he exhorted them to take 
measures for their defence ; when he laid before them 
the King's letter, demanding money to aid in carrying 
on the war against the Indians of New York, and recom- 
mended that the sum be granted by the Assembl}^ 
Just as Samuel Wetherill, and other of the "•' Free or 
Fighting Quakers" did right in the course they pursued 
in the War of Independence, " deeming the love of truth 
of greater concernment to them than what is called uni- 
formity." '■' 

The argument of Samuel Chew, Esq., (who had '^'been 
educated amongst, and. always professed himself to be 
of the Society of the people called Quakers,") denouncing 
the ?f«lawfulness of self-defence to Christians, as '"'a most 
capital error, as dangerous to society in general, and in- 

* " We have been disowned, for no other cause than a faithful discharge of 
these duties we owe to our country." — Address, 2-lth of the 4th month, 1781, 
Pliiladeiphia. 



12 

consistent with the very nature of civil communities/' is 
as good now as in 1741, and we would like to see the 
man who can readily pick a flaw in it. " I lay it down/' 
says he, " as a ground work, that God intended our hap- 
piness in our creation, and that government and political 
society are absolutely essential to human happiness; 
that the preservation of government is equally essential ; 
that force is necessary to that preservation, and conse- 
quently that war is allowable under the law of nature. 
I also think it so apparent from what has been said, that 
the Scripture cannot be justly impeached with altering 
the law of nature in this point, or of having taken aw^ay 
man's natural right to seek that happiness which God 
originally designed him, by forbidding Christians to de- 
fend their lives and properties when they are unjustly 
invaded, that no intelligent man who examines it with 
an impartial, unprejudiced mind, can have the least 
doubt about it."* 

But from all arguments and opinions of men, let us 
now turn " to the law and to the testimony." On this 
point, as on every other, we are to search the Scriptures, 
whether these things be so or not, and by their deci- 
sion, as the only perfect and infallible rule of faith, we 
are in all cases to abide. 

From the words of our text, we have seen already 
that he who by becoming man, identified himself with 
universal humanity, so far from taking away the natural 
rights of man, only still more firmly established those 
rights. 

In the case of the centurion, Mat. viii., 10, of whom 
he said, that " he had not found so great faith, no, not in 

* Speech of Samuel Chew, Esq., Phila. Printed and sold by B. Franklin, 
1741. 



13 

Israel,"' we are left to infer, that like Jolin the Baptist, 
he considered the life and employment of a soldier, at 
least within certain limits, absolutely lawful. If he 
"did violence to no man," if he "accused no one falsely," 
if he "was content with his wages," (Luke iii. 24,) he 
might remain as conscientiously in that calling as any 
other. 

Had his kingdom been of this world; had it been like 
any other, a merely temporal kingdom, it would have 
been as much the duty of his subjects to fight for him, 
as for any other king. (John xviii. 30.) But as the 
King of Truth, he had no need either of embattled 
legions of men or of angels. The weapons of this war- 
fjire, from the very nature of the case itself, were not 
carnal but spiritual. The sword that Peter carried by 
his side, and which he drew with so much haste and so 
little discretion, on behalf of his master, as to receive his 
severe rebuke ; in other times and circumstances might 
have found its appropriate use, but not just then and 
there in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was about 
to lay down his life voluntarily, and with this single 
object in view, " he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, 
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he 
opened not his mouth." But while he thus renounced 
the right of self-defence in his own case, he was careful 
to intimate that his disciples were not to interpret his 
conduct too strictly, or literally, as an example for them- 
selves. 

Hence that previous scene, as described by Luke, 
xxii. 35-38, concluding with the injunction, "He 
that hath no sword let him sell his garment and buy 
one." The sword here spoken of is as literal as the 
purse and garment. The Saviour intimates to his disci- 



14 

pies that they would soon be in great ^^ersonal clanger; 
that they must go forth as travellers in the midst of 
" perils by robbers," and " perils by their own country- 
men;" that they must therefore provide themselves with 
the first necessity of a traveller in those days, a sword; 
that so far from not employing earthly means of pro- 
tection and defence, they must do it ; for their personal 
protection of the life that belongs to the service of Christ, 
in certain circumstances and times of more intense dan- 
ger, they must even have recourse to the equipment of 
the sword.''' 

According to Josephus, even the peaceful " Essenes" 
were accustomed to travel armed, and wath the " Gali- 
leans" to be provided with a sword was a matter of 
course. The sword was a symbol of defence, and in 
telhng his disciples to possess themselves of one at 
almost any cost, they had the plainest warrant that 
they could have for standing up in their own defence. 
The Maccabees, the Bohemians, the Waldenses, the Ger- 
man Protestants, the Hollanders, the French Huguenots, 
the Poles, the Scottish Reformers, the English Puritans, 
and our own Christian Fathers in the Revolution, were 
not mistaken in the view they took from the lan- 
guage of Christ, of their natural rights of self-defence. 
Christian communities and Christian nations have their 
RIGHTS, and when these are invaded, as they now are in 
our own persons as Christians and American citizens, a 
war of defence, so far from being a matter of expediency, 
becomes, in fact, one of the most sacred obhgations that 
a man is ever called upon to perform ! 

Blame me as much as some of you no doubt w^ill, in 
times like these, for putting myself under the protection 

* See Steier's Words of Jesus, " Concerning the sword." 



15 

of the sword, and iiidiieing others to the full extent of 
my ability to do the same, I have this consolation at 
least, that if your argument is good for anything against 
me, it is er^uall}" valid against the Apostle Paul. Not 
only was his doctrine clear and unmistakable, that a ruler 
or a government, who would be '' a terror to evil doers, 
as a revenger to execute wrath ujion him that doeth evil, 
must not bear the sword in vain ' (Rom. xiii. 3, 4), but 
such was his practice also. When notified in the castle 
at Jerusalem, by his nephew, that some forty of the Jews 
had made a conspiracy to slay him, Paul immediately 
acquainted the commander of the Roman garrison with 
it. (Acts XX. 3.) When the commander sent two centu- 
rions, two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two 
hundred spearmen, to accompany him to Cesarea, did he 
refuse the proffered escort ? Did he in the least insinu- 
ate, either to the centurions or the soldiers, that it was 
immoral to repel force by force ? Not at all, but he 
availed himself of the protection of the sword, without 
the least hesitation. Suppose some of '' the lewd fellows 
of Jerusalem, of the baser sort," had fallen on the squad- 
ron, and attacked them as the ''' Plug Ugiies " of Balti- 
more on Friday last attacked our unarmed Pennsylva- 
nians, and the noble regiment of Massachusetts ; and 
suppose as the result of such an attack, that some of his 
enemies had been slain by the Roman soldiers, would 
Paul have thought himself guilty of their blood ? I trow 
not. And if it was nothing derogatory to the faith or 
character of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, to pro- 
vide himself with a strong guard of armed soldiers for 
his defence, why should there be any hesitation what- 
ever on our part, at least on the score of our religion, in 
imitating his example ? Only then when we are better 



16 

men than the Apostle Paul, can we safely venture to im- 
prove upon that example. 

I am well aware that at this point in the argument, I 
shall be referred to the fact that great multitudes of the 
primitive Christians refused to become soldiers under 
any circumstances, even though their refusal might cost 
them life itself. So they did. But for what reason did 
they refuse ? Because they believed that war in all 
cases was essentially sinful ? No, there is abundance of 
evidence direct!}^ to the contrary. Because soldiers were 
reckoned in the same category as stage-players and gla- 
diators, and cattle-dealers for idol sacrifices, or others 
exercising similar professions not warranted by the law 
of God ? Not at all. We have every reason to believe 
that Cornelius the centurion, and the " devout soldier" 
who waited on him, and Sergius Paulus, and others, con- 
tinued in precisely the same relation to the army after 
their conversion as before. 

There is a much easier and better way to account for 
the reluctance of Christians to enter the army, than to 
leap to the hasty and unwarranted conclusion, that in all 
cases war is entirely unjustifiable. What the primitive 
Christian did really and conscientiously object to was, 
that in order to enter the army, he must take a heathen 
oath ; and once in the army, he must burn incense to 
idols, wear on certain occasions an idolatrous crown,* and 

* '' The soldiers came as was usual, crowned with laurel, to receive their share 
of the donation ; and there was one amongst them, who appeared with his 
head bare, holding his crown in his hand. The rest, who were far distant, 
pointed at him, and scoffed ; and those who were near, raged with indignation. 
The Tribune, hearing of the noise, asked him why he wasn't like the rest ? 
" It is not lawful for me," said he, "because I am a Christian !" Then they 
consulted about the matter, and he was sent back to the pra?fects of the camp. 
There he was degraded, and stripped of his coat, his buskius, and his sword ; 
he was put into prison. Several blamed him as having exposed himself rashly, 



what was especially obnoxious to them, must assist in 
the persecution of their brethren. 

These disabilities removed, and they were as ready, 
other things being equal, to fight for their country as any 
other class of men. The man who advocates the doc- 
trine of non-resistance, and thus, of necessity, causes 
himself and his nation to be " devoured and annihilated," 
does not do so because he knows more of the New Tes- 
tament, and more of ecclesiastical history, than those 
whom he so vehemently opposes, but because he knows 
less. If he will only look at this matter aright, he 
will find that " morality and piety are essentially the 
same in every age of the world;" ''that principles 
founded on permanent relations are unalterable;" that 
if ^Y(iv was, in and of itself, an act essentially sinful, 
like theft, or lying, or adultery, a just God and a 
holy, would never have commanded it at all in any in- 
stance ; never have encouraged it by a double promise 
of blessing and success ; never have rebuked with ve- 
hement indignation, all luxurious Reubenites, all lethar- 
gic Issachars,'^' all cowardly inhabitants of Meroz, who 
refuse to maintain a just cause, by jeopardizing their 
lives unto the death in the high places of the field.f Or, 

and endangered the peace which the church had long enjoyed, maintaining, 
besides, that this crown was an ornament that was indifterent. Tertullian, on 
the contrary, in his book concerning the soldiers' crown, asserts that it was a 
mark of idolatrj-, and accordingly defends the soldier. — " Fleury's Ec. Hist., 
as quoted in Gilbert Tennent's Defensive War Defended," p. 147. Philadel- 
phia, B. Franklin, 1748. 

All honor to this noble soldier, the first of the Puritans ! worthy to be 
classed with the bold Telemachus — whose martyr death abolished forever the 
combat of the gladiators, and the human sacrifices of the amphitheatre. (Gib- 
bon ii. 223.) Worthy of equal honor with Bishop Hooper — burning at the 
stake rather than wear the surplice — "as tending more to superstition than 
otherwise." — Fox's Martyrs, page 148. Lon. 1811. 

* Gen. xiv. 49. f Judges v. 19-23. 

o 



18 

what is still stronger oven than rei^roof, never have pro- 
nounced the language of positive curse, on the cowardly 
and inactive. " Cursed is he that doeth the work of 
the Lord deceitfully ; and cursed is he that keepeth back 
his sword from blood."* (Jer. xlviii. 10.) 

So fiiir from man being more a Christian because 
through natural cowardice, or latent selfishness, or con- 
venient and preconceived opinion, his conscience is only 
partially enlightened as to his duty ; a man is just, to this 
very extent, less a Christian than he might have been, 
less a lover of his country ; in the highest and truest 
sense of that word, less a lover of his race. As I read 
the word of God, and the Providence of God, never was 
Col. Gardiner more a Christian than when on the break- 
ing out of a rebellion under a "pretender" king, as we 
have now among the Anarchists, a "pretender" Presi- 
dent, he earnestly desired, that " if it were the will of 
God, he might liave some honorable call to sacrifice his 
life in defence of religion and the liberties of his courvtry." 
Never was General Havelock more a Christian, than 
when marching with his Christian regiment ("Havelock's 
Saints," as they were fiimiliarly called in the army,) to 
the relief of Lucknow; as our newly-enlisted soldiers 
may find it necessary in a few hours to march to the 
relief of Washington. Never was Hedley Vicars, (alike 
the Captain and the Chaplain of his regiment in the 
Crimea,) more a Christian, than when with a bayonet 
wound in his breast, he leaped the parapet that he had 
so well defended, and charging the enemy down the 
ravine, exclaimed, with his dying breath, " This way, 

* See Pres. Davies' sermon on this text, "The Curse of Cowardice," 
"preached to the militia of Hanover County, in Virginia, at a general muster, 
May 8, 1758, with a view to raise a company for Capt. Samuel Meredith." — 
iii. p. 84, N. Y. 1841. 



19 

97th !"' Never was the immortal Zwingle'^' more a Chris- 
tian than when according to the usage of his country, 
attending his flock to a battle in which their rehgion and 
liberties were all at stake, he said to his weeping friends, 
on receiving his mortal wound from a bullet, " Ecquid 
hoe mfortuniir "Is this to be reckoned a misfortune," 
to die for God and our Country ! 

Possibly it may be because I am somewhat partial to 
the history of Scotland in this respect, but I confess 
that there are few names in the history of any land 
brighter to me than that of Richard Cameron, '' who fell 
at Airsmoss, A. D. 1680, while defending as a Christian 
hero, the religion and liberties of his country against the 
tyranny of the Bishops, and the royal house of Stuart. 

" There," said Robert Murray, w^ho cut off the head 
and hands of Mr. Cameron, and presented them to the 
King's council, '" There are the head and hands that lived 
praying and preaching, and died praijing and fighting^ 
The tyrannical council in the refinement of cruelty, 
ordered them to be shown to his worthy father, theu in 
prison for the same cause. He was asked if he knew 
them. The good man took them in his hands, kissed 
them, and said, " / hiovj them, they are my mns, my dear 
son's ; good is the will of tJte Lord, tvho cannot tvrong me 
or mine.'' 

Leaving all the vice, crime, and evils almost innumer- 
ble, ^civil, social, political and financial, that so undeni- 
ably pertain to war chiefly to those wdio by treason and 
robber}', and open violence, have been the guilty origi- 
nators of it ; admitting as I do, that the crimes of a 
single campaign are equal often to those of fifty years of 

* The study of ^vhose life, by the way, first showed us the fallacy of nou- 
rcslstance. 



20 

peace : yet in view of all that has now been said, I con- 
sider myself safely warranted by right reason and the 
Avord of God, in aflfirining that there are times and cir- 
cumstances in which we may be fully justified in using 
the language of David, " Blessed be the Lord, my 
strength, which teacheth my hands to war and my 
fingers to fight, so that a bow of steel is broken by my 
arms ;" and when like our own Armstrong at the battle 
of Kitanning,* " The high praises of God may be in our 
mouth, and a two-edged sword in our hand, to execute 
upon the adversaries the judgment that is written ;" " the 
thoughts of the Lord that they know not, his counsels 
that they do not understand, that he shall gather them 
as sheaves into the floor, for the threshing T (Micah iv. 12.) 
III. The nature of the war in which we are now 
ENGAGED. "With good advico, make war." (Prov. xx. 
18.) While the right in the abstract to make war, is 
here expressly recognized in just so many words, we are 
always to remember that it is coupled with this most 
important condition, viz., it must be undertaken with 
" good advice." Of this sort of wisdom, we have a fine 

* " Col. Armstrong was one of the most remarkable men of his time. To 
fearless intrepidity of the highest cast, there was united in his character a 
strong sense of religious responsibility that rarely blends with military senti- 
ment. He belonged to that singular race of men, the Scottish Covenanters, 
in whom austerity was a virtue of high price, and who, in the conflicts to 
which persecution trained them, never drew the sword, or struck a mortal 
blow, without the confidence which enthusiasm seemed to give them, that 
agencies higher and stronger than human means were battling in their behalf, 
and that their swoi-d, whether bloodless or bloody, was always ' The sword of 
the Lord.' Educated in these sentiments, John Armstrong never swerved from 
them. He was foremost in his country's ranks, whether her cause was defence 
against a foreign foe or revolt against oppression — in the colonial conflicts as 
well as in the war of the revolution. He was always known to kneel in 
humble devotion and earnest prayer before he went into battle, and never 
seemed to doubt, in the midst of the battle's fury, that the work of blood was 
sanctified to some high purpose." — Reed's Eulogy on Mercer, p. 12. 



21 

illustration in the ancient Romans, of whom it is said, 
that they were particularly cautious never to attack 
their neighbors nor to appear the aggressors, but always 
to let the world see that they took arms in their own 
defence. "You Romans," said the Deputies of the 
Rhodians, on one occasion, " profess to believe that the 
success of your arms is happy because they are just, 
and you glory, not so much in the victory that deter- 
mines them, as in the beginnings, or because you did not 
undertake them without reason." Hence it is said, they 
came to no decision of this kind, no open declaration of 
w\ar, without the most mature deliberation. It was a 
common maxim with them, that the courage of a soldier 
rises or falls according to the excellence of his cause.'-' 
Another maxim was, " When you engage in any good 
action, entertain hopes of success, being assured that 
God favors a just enterprise." Pompey encouraged his 
soldiers, before a battle, with the consideration : 

" For favor of the gods, 
Our heller cause enjoins us still to hope." 

Who does not know that a consciousness of justice in 
a cause is of greater force than an hundred cannon, 
(especially, if they are stolen!) and that sound opinions 
and principles are worth more than a thousand bayonets? 

" Thrice is he armed, who hath his quarrel just." 

The question then for us now to determine is : What is 
the character of the present war ? 

1. It is not an aggressive war on our part. War 
exists by no act of the lawful government to w^ hich we are 

* "When our cause is good," says Mathesius, the friend of Luther, "the 
heart expands, and gives courage and energy to the evangelist and the sol- 
dier." — D'Aubigae, ii. 28. 



52 



now in allegiance. As President Lincoln well said on 
receiving the news of the infamons bombardment of 
Fort Sumter. " The knot is cut at last. The Seceded 
States have made war upon the United States." 

2. It is not a war into which we have been ready to 
enter for a trivial matter, such as the few millions of 
dollars, due us by Mexico, or the 54° 40' boundary 
line, between us and Great Britain in Oregon. 

3. It is not a war into which we have entered hastily, 
or without exhausting every constitutional measure in 
endeavoring to avoid it. 

The thief had been in our National house a long time 
before the '' good man of the house" began to bestir him- 
self. First, the Treasury door is shrewdly left ajar, and 
he throws out milhons of gold and silver to his confede- 
rates. Next, the Army door is thrown v.ide open, and 
he distributes through its convenient portals an indefi- 
nite amount of arms and ammunition. Then the Navy 
door is heard to creak slyly on its hinges, and, as far as 
possible, the same sort of iniquity is repeated there. 
Lasf, and worst of all, in some respects, the iron door of 
the "Interior" is opened, and the bread is once more 
stolen out of the mouths of the poor Indians. All this 
while, the good man of the house slept on. Nothing 
seemed to rouse him from his imbecility, until he found 
that the thief, in default of any further propert}^ on 
which to lay his hands, had determined to turn the good 
man out of the house ; to steal the very house itself, 
and enter into full possession of all the appurtenances 
thereof by right of theft ! Therefore, 

4. I remark, that this war, on the part of those of us 
who still, according to our conscience and the word of 
God, adhere to " the powers that be," is purely a defen- 
sive one. 



War is offensive, on the part of the power that com- 
mits the first act of violence ; it is (Mensiye, on the part 
of him who receiA'es and resists the first act of violence. 
When and where the first blow was inflicted, is too no- 
torious to admit the shadow of a doubt. It was not the 
Government at Washington that fired the first gun, or 
ordered it to be fired, but the pseudo-Government at 
Montgomery. 

5. The present "svar for the entire interests of the 
entire Union, i. e., to preserve the Union in its integrity, 
is a just war. War being simply that state in which a 
nation defends and prosecutes its rights by force, the 
only question is, what ivc these rights wliich may thus 
be prosecuted and recovered ? 

One of these rights is jiirisdiciiou. This has been re- 
pudiated — -judicial, military, and executive. Another 
is, the right of citizenship, to which all under the Con- 
stitution are equally entitled in common. This also, as 
w^e showed at length in a recent sermon, has, for some 
years past, been violated with perfect impunity. A 
third is, the right of p-opcrtij ; but our mints, and forts, 
and vessels, have been stolen before our very eyes, in 
open day. A fourth is, the natural and indestructible 
right of national existence ; but even now^ the life of the 
presiding officer of the nation is threatened at the seat 
of the Federal government ; and we are vauntingly as- 
sured that the Southern Pretender will soon be at Wash- 
ington, and the reptile flag float over the capitol instead 
of the stars and stripes. Rather than such a desecra- 
tion as this should occur, let that magnificent edifice be 
reduced to a heap of ruins, and not one stone remain 
upon another ! 

" Thirty years," we are told, this worse than Catiline 



24 

conspiracy lias been in progress, and now it is about to 
be "triumphant." Soldiers of the sister, and ever- 
honored State of Massachusetts, obeying the call of their 
country, and marching with our own troops under the 
national flag to her relief, are stoned and spit upon,'^' and 
murderously shot down in a State still pretending to be 
in the Union, and denied the right of transit across her 
territory to the rescue of the Federal city, and our law- 
fully constituted rulers — thereby initiating a political 
crime, hitherto unknown and without a name ; a crime 
which, if its name should be as hideous as its nature 
and its origin, should henceforth be denominated Plug- 
ugly ism ! 

Infamy upon infamy, the same men who, but a few 
weeks since, once more legalized the accursed slave 
trade, that the entire civilized world has repudiated as 
the worst of barbarism, within a few days past, have 
attempted to legalize piracy in the same way, under the 
form of letters of marque and of reprisal ! 

In all history, ancient or modern, sacred or profane, I 
candidly confess that I can think of but a single rebel- 
lion that will furnish any adequate parallel to the pre- 
sent rebellion of the Cotton States of this country in 
1861, and that is, the rebellion of the proud, luxurious, 
lascivious, unprincipled, murderous Absalom, against his 
noble, unsuspecting, too affectionate, and over-indulgent 
father, David. Notice briefly, in passing, the following 
as only a few of the particulars into which the parallel 
might be extended indefinitely, and the historical refer- 
ences to which are too fresh in your minds to call for 
any repetition. 

1. The conspiracy of Absalom took place in Israel, 

■^" Literally so : we have it from eye-witnesses. 



25 

when it was supposed that the empire was at the highest 
point of her national greatness and security. 

2. It cuhninated where, of all other places, it must 
have been least suspected, at the seat of government, 
and in the very household of David. 

3. The more immediate, though utterly unfounded 
pretext for it was, the lack of public justice in the ad- 
justment of individual rights. 

4. This conspiracy was carried forward under the 
convenient cloak and color of religion.* 

5. Many innocent men were designedly entangled and 
involved in the conspiracy, who went out like multitudes 
of our Southern friends, I doubt not, '' only in their sim- 
plicity." 

6. The rebelhon of Absalom was avowedly "precipi- 
tated" into the proportions of a "revolution," by an overt 
act as uncalled for and outrageous as the bombardment 
of Fort Sumter on the part of South Carolina. (Sam. 
xvi. 20-22.) 

7. While the rebellion was in progress, the grossest 
personal indignities and abuse Avere heaped upon the 
lawful head of the government, without stint or measure. 

8. For a time the rebellion was, apparently, a success- 
ful one, as all rebellions in school and elsewhere are, at 
the beginning. 

A sad sight, indeed (God forbid we should ever rea- 
lize it in our own history !) that ascent of Mount Olivet, 
when David w^ent up, weeping as he w^ent, with his head 
covered, and his feet barefoot, — wdien the people that 
was w ith him covered every man his head, as they went 
up, weeping as they went, and wdien all the country 

* "The Bible defends slavery — wc defend the Bible," is the maxim of the 
conspirators. " Noa tali auxilio !'' 



26 

wept with a loud voice : Absalom, the traitor and the 
ingrate at Jerusalem — David, the lawful monarch and 
father, an outcast and a fugitive. 

9. The rebellion of Absalom speedily came to an end. 
The Joabs, and Abishais, and Ittais, with their valor; 
the Zadoks and Abiathars with their religion ; the 
Hushais with their counsel ; the young Jonathans and 
Ahimaazes with their activity and enthusiasm ; the 
Zibas, and Shobis and Machirs, and Barzillais, that 
" brought beds, and cups, and earthen vessels, and wheat, 
and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and 
lentiles, and parched pulse, and hone}^, and butter, and 
sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people 
that w^ere with him, to eat : for they said. The people is 
hungry, and weary, and thirst}^, in the wilderness," 
(2 Sam. xvii. 28, 29) ; all these rallying to the rescue, 
not forgetting the essential and most admirable service 
rendered by the woman of Bahurim, soon the tide of re- 
bellion begins to turn. Ahithophel kills himself. A 
battle takes place in the wood of Ephraim — the traitors 
are routed — twenty thousand of them slain — and the 
last we see of Absalom, the traitor and usurper, he is 
hanging in an oak, with three arrows surely and most 
deservedly lodged in his ungrateful and rebellious heart. 
So perish all traitors (" Amen," said a brother, at this 
point) ; and for the good of the country, and the honor 
of humanity, and the glory of God, the sooner they 
perish the better! and let all the people say, Ameu!'^' 

APPLICATION. 

The application of the subject, as thus presented, is a 
very obvious and practical one. We are just as much 

* And they all did say it ! 



27 

bound to " render to Ciesar the things that are Cresars," 
as ''to God the things that are God's." As, in the days 
of David, it was the duty of all Israel to unite, and 
grant all their aid and help against Absalom the usurper ; 
every tribe, city, town, and family, belonging to the 
nation, bound together by the same national compact, 
liable to the same opjDression from the enemy — reaping 
mutual benefit in case of victory — their duty to come up 
to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against 
the mighty — so is it now the duty of our whole nation, 
the duty of every State, every city, every town, every 
f^xmily, and person in this nation, directly or indirectly, 
to unite all their wisdom, all their wealth, all their 
power, all their energies, all their enthusiasm, in the w^ar 
into which we have been so treacherously forced, for the 
defence of our just and violated rights. '^■" All further 
hypocrisy about compromises, and adjustments, and re- 
constructions, and peaceable secession, completely at 
an end — the mask is boldly torn aside, and treason 
and usurpation stand as truly revealed this moment 
before the American people, in the pei'son of Jefferson 
Davis, as ever they did to the horror and astonishment 
of ancient Israel, in the person of Absalom. 

War is now u})on us by no act of our own, and like 
men we must meet it — meet it promptly — meet it deter- 
minedly — meet it triumphantly. As Cato said to the 
Homans, " Divine assistance and protection in such an 
hour as this, are not to be obtained by timorous prayers, 
and weeping supplications. To succeed, we must join 
vigilant counsel and courageous action. "f Do, as until 

* See " Duty of Union in a Just War;" A discourse by J. II. Stevens, Stone- 
ham, Mass. 1813. N. Y. :!a cd., 1830. 

f This passngo, ^vhleh was a very f\\vorite one with our lathers in the days 



28 

very recently our enemies have deliberately calculated, as 
an indispensable element of their success, that we would 
do : be divided among ourselves, niggardly as to our 
money, cowardly as to our lives, careless as to our honor, 
indifferent as to who or what principles are in power at 
Washington, if Market street only flourishes, and manu- 
factures are revived, and money is easy and plentiful; 
and we dare not presume to ask God to avert from us a 
calamity, we will not use all proper means to avert from 
ourselves. Now to exhibit effeminacy and cowardice, 
will only be to provoke Him to raise up his indignation 
against us, and to cast us off as a nation utterly and for- 
ever ! 

On the other hand, let us rally as one man to the de- 
fence of our country, as our fathers did in the mighty 
struggle of the Revolution, and with the blessing of God 
upon our united efforts, failure is impossible. The reso- 
lution with which our fathers entered into that conflict 
to achieve our liberties, be it the full determination of 
every heart now present, in order to preserve these liber- 
ties. Here it is, in this precious manuscript of a ser- 

of the Revolution, and esijecially with Benjamin Franklin, is worthy of being 
quoted at length : 

" Capta urbe, nihil sit reliqui victis, sed, per Deos immortales, vos ego ap- 
pello, qui semper domos, villas, signa, tabulas vestras, tantaj estimationis 
fecistis, si ista, cujus cumque modi sint, quae amplexamini, retinere, si volup- 
tatibus vestris otium pr^bere vultis ; expergis cimini aliquando, et capessite 
republieam. Non agitur nunc de sociorum injuriis ; Libertas et Anima nostra 
in dubio est. Dux hostium cum exercitu supra caput est. Vos cunctamini 
etiam nunc, et dubitatis quid faciatis? Scilicet, res ipsa aspera est, sed vos 
non timetis earn. Imo vero maxime ; sed inertia et mollitia animi, alius alium 
expectantes, cunctamini ; videlicet, Diis immortalibus confisi, qui banc rem- 
publicam in maximis periculis servavere. Nox votis xeque suppliciis mulie- 
RiBus, AuxiLiA Deorom parantur ; vigilando, agendo, bene consulendo, pros- 
pere omnia cedunt. Ubi socordia tete atque ignavite tradideris nequicquam 
Deos implores, irati, infestique sunt." — JI. For. Cato in Salust. 



29 

mon, delivered in old Pine Street Presbyterian Church, 
of this city, on the thanksgiving day appointed for the 
peace, 1783 : 

'"' The establishment of America in the peaceable pos- 
session of her rights, stands an instance of the divine 
favor unexamj)led in the records of time. W/io docs not 
remember the general language when the ivar commenced, 

CHEERFULLY TO PAY ONE-HALF OF OUR PROPERTY TO SECURE 

OUR RIGHTS? But cvcn half of this has not been re- 
quired. Taken on a national scale, the price of our 
peace, when compared with the advantages gained, 
scarce deserves the name !'"•' 

That was the spirit which achieved our liberties. That 
is the spirit which alone under God can preserve them. 

Thank God, that the best blood of the Revolution has 
not yet become wholly corrupt and degenerate, and that 
it still lives in such men as Slemmer, and Anderson, and 
Scott. The fact that such men are still left to us, in 
connection with the new baptism of patriotism that has 
come down upon us, we cannot doubt, from the Lord of 
Hosts himself, is a token for good of speed}^ victory ; 
that the thief will be expelled from our national house — 
our national property recovered, and our American family 
once more restored to peace. 

* Since the delivery of this sermon, I have found a MS. of Dr. DufEeld more 
precious still ; for which, see Appendix. 



APPENDIX. 



At Pino Street Presbyterian Cluircli, Philadelphia, March 
17, 1776, by Rev. George Duffield, D.D,, Pastor. Isaiah xxi. 
11, 12. " The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of 
Seir, Watchman, what of the night ? Watchman, what of 
the night ? The watchman said. The morning cometh, and 
also the night : if ye will inquire, inquire ye : return, come." 

:^ y;'^ ^ :^ ^ ^^ ^ :^ 

The instruction afforded in these words is as follows : 

I. That it is the duty of a people, under a pressure of trouble 
and distress, to be earnest in applying to God respecting their 
affairs. 

II. That such a people have encouragement to expect God 
will answer them, and with the affliction administer comfort to 
them. 

I. What is implied in applying to God in such circumstances ? 

1. A generous concern for the public good. 

Idumea's watchman, representing all those of the inhabitants 
of that country suitably exercised in that day of trial (and 
every true patriot in our day), seems to have abandoned every 
meaner consideration — to have lost every thought of private 
concern for himself or his own peculiar interest, in an ardent 
glow of zeal for the good of the common cause, by which, while 
others indulge in repose, his eyes slumber not ; he watches for 
his countrj'-'s good ; his thoughts are all on this ; and his busy 
laboring mind is consulting, planning, and inquiring for its 
good. 

View him a moment on his watch-tower on Mount Seir ; his 
looks are the picture of deep concern ; anxious care dwells 
seated on his brow ; painful study for his country's good has 
emaciated his frame ; spread a solemn composure over his 
countenance, and hastened his age faster far than hurrying 
time itself would roll away his years ! 

Such a patriot was good Hezekiah, who lived only to serve 
his country — whose days Avere measured by diligence for its 
good, and planning for its greatest benefit ; and whose consti- 
tution was so enfeebled bv unremitting care, that ere he had 



ni 

reached liis fortieth year, he had sunk before the first attack 
of disease, had not a miracle interposed for his deliverance. 

Such patriots of old were Samuel and Ezra, and, in the field, 
the brave Uriah. Such may thy councils, America, and such 
thine armies ever contain. 

(" Hiatus valde dejlciidus .'") 

2. A sense of the overrulinjr 2:overnment of God determininfr; 
the affan's of men. 

Without this, the Idumean patriot had never called with such 
ardor, to the watchman God had appointed to observe and de- 
clare his will. So intimately is a reverence for God, connected 
with the proper discharge of every duty we owe to our fellow- 
men, as individuals, or the community at large ; both proceeding 
from the same good principle within ; that never can there be a 
proper and sincere discharge of the latter where the former is 
neglected. True patriotism is founded in true religion; 
and where the latter is not, there is great danger of the former 
being bought or bribed by an adequate jjrice, or in some way 
blasted, like the seed sown in stony ground, that perished 
through want of root. 

3. A diligent attention to the use of means. 

God has so determined, in the ordinary course of his provi- 
dential dispensations, that the blessings he designs to bestow, 
are yet to be sought after and obtained in the use of the proper 
means. Eden itself was not to nourish Adam without dress- 
ing. The same God that fed Elijah by the brook, could have 
commanded the ravens to feed the family of Jacob, but they 
must travel to Egypt for bread. Canaan was given to Israel, 
but they must march, and fight, and toil, to subdue and possess 
it. Paul was assured that the ship's crew would all be saved, 
but the mariners must stay aboard, and ply their endeavors, or 
not a soul Avould be safe. And who that considers the en- 
gagedness of this earnest Edomite, "calling from Seir," can 
doubt his diligence in every measure adapted to obtain the end. 

4. The true patriot must be earnestly engaged in prayer. 
In the common affairs of life, as Avell as in religion, we may 

adopt the language of the Apostle, and whether Paul plant or 
Apollos water, it is God must give the increase. This is the 
Psalmist's idea. Ps. cxxvii. 1. ^ Except the Lord build the 
house, they labor in A'ain that build it," &c. It is this blessing 
that makes prosperous as well as rich, &c. To Him, therefore, 
with great propriety does the pious Idumean look, and ardently 
pray in our text ; and it will generally be found that Avhen God 
is about to bestow any remarkable favor on a person or people. 



he previously pours upon tliat people or person a spirit of ear- 
nest supplication to God for his favor. 

That it is the incumbent duty of a people, and especially 
•ftdien involved in calamitous circumstances, thus to pray ; con- 
sider 1. God has commanded it, and to his injunction added 
great encouragement. Ps. 1. 15. " Call upon me in the day of 
trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Ps. 
xxxvii. 5. " Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him ; 
and he shall bring it to pass." Joel ii. 32. "Whosoever shall 
call on the name of the Lord, shall be delivered ; for in Mount 
Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has 
said." Hence, 

2. Prayer is one of the most probable means of obtaining 
deliverance from trouble. 

As the calamities of a people are the chastening of God for 
their sins, and one end designed therein is to bring them back 
to him from whom they have departed, the more they are 
brought to a sense of their dependence on God, and engaged 
in returning and making their supplication to him, the greater 
is their prospect not only of being delivered, but of having their 
calamities converted into blessings. Micah iv. G. And " I will 
gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted, and 
1 will make her that was cast off a strong nation." 

3. Prayer brings down the perfections of God to the as- 
sistance of those who are thus exercised. Ps. xvi. 1. "Pre- 
serve me, God, for in thee do I put my trust." Ps. cxviii. 
5-12. " I called upon the Lord in distress : the Lord answered 
me, and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side ; I 
will not fear : what can man do unto me? The Lord taketh 
my part with them that help me : therefore shall I see my de- 
sire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord 
than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord 
than to put confidence in princes. All nations compassed me 
about : but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They 
compassed me about ; yea, they compassed me about ; but in 
the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They compassed 
me about like bees ; they are quenched as the fire of thorns : 
for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them." 

II. Let us now consider the answer, and point out some 
signs that promise a morning of deliverance to a people af- 
flicted. 

Known unto God are all his ways from the beginning, and 
from the perfections of Deity we may safely assert that all 
moral and natural evil will finally be rendered subservient to 
the perfection of the divine plan ; but in u'hat manner this shall 



be done surpasses the contracted power of the feeble mind of 
man to determine, and rests perhaps among the mysteries of 
heaven that Gabriel himself has not explained, but waits for 
the finishing scene to explain the mysterious drama. Yet so it 
is. As day and night succeed each other in the natural, so 
both the natural and the moral world have their nights and their 
days in successive interesting periods, since the memorable hour 
when Adam forsook his God, and introduced moral evil, and its 
inseparable attendant, natural evil, into this small province of 
the Great Creator's kingdom. The whole world throughout is 
as of the Jews in our text, " The morning cometh, and also the 
night," and so shall continue until night and day be blended 
no more. 

Eternal day and eternal night will possess their eternally- 
separated regions, and separate the inhabitants in endless hap- 
piness and joy, or everlasting horror and despair. 

The particular time of the Jewish state, designed in our text 
by the morning and the night here mentioned, may be hard to 
determine ; but it will with great propriety apply to various 
periods. 

It was, at the time of the prophecy, a night of sore impend- 
ing distress from Sennacherib the Assyrian King. A morning 
of deliverance came in the destruction of Rabshakeh's army. 
2 Kings, xix. 

The troubled state of affairs for a series of years before and 
through the Babylonish captivity, was a season of night. A 
morning came in the return imder Cyrus ! 

It was a long night, in respect of religion, through the whole 
of their ceremonial service — this was still darker before the 
coming of Christ, but in him arose a bright morning. 

" A dayspring from on high visited them, to give light to 
those that were in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to 
guide their feet into the way of peace." Luke i. 78, 79. 

Night came on them in the destruction of their city and na- 
tion, and has continued now 1700 years ; but the prophets and 
the apostle Paul (Rom. xi. 15, 26) promise them a glorious 
morning in the latter days of the world. 

The Christian Church has had its nights and its mornings. 

And the like has been the case with every nation in a mea- 
sure. 

But it more especially concerns us to attend to the improve- 
ment of this doctrine, both with respect to individuals and to 
the present state of our own public affairs. 

Im'provement. — 1. In the way of comfort to the people of 
God, for 



(a.) All tlieir affairs are ordered by God, who is their God, 
and to Avhom they have a right to go as their God and inquire. 

(b.) Though they have a night, there is an eternal morning 
in reserve. But 

2. Our subject is full of gloom to sinners out of Christ. 
Now, they have a night of spiritual darkness and death — an 
eternal night of dreadful misery and despair awaits you — very 
shortly — hereafter. 

3. The improvement of our subject naturally leads our 
thoughts to the state of our public affairs. 

It is at present a night scene over this vast northern part of 
the New World. God, to chastise us for our offences, and for 
wise and important purposes, has suffered dark clouds to enve- 
lope our sky. It becomes every one, who wishes his own or his 
country's good, to inquire — "Watchman, what of the night?" 
It is a time for earnest prayer, joined with diligent endeavor. 
There is in store an answer of mercy ! There is a morning in 
reserve, though the night may continue some time. 

Reasons to expect a Morning. — 1. God never has cast off 
and destroyed a nation so soon, as it would be to deliver 
America now to ruin. Look at the ante-diluvian world — the 
Amorites, and other nations of Canaan — the Jews, &c. 

2. This western world appears to have been retained for that 
purpose, and designed by an ordinance of heaven as an ASYLUM 
for Liberty, civil and religious. Our forefathers, who first 
inhabited yonder eastern shores, fled from the iron rod and 
heavy hand of tyranny. This it was, and no love of earthly 
gain or prospect of temporal grandeur, urged them, like Ab- 
raham of old, to leave their native soil and tender connections 
behind, to struggle through winds and waves, and seek a peace- 
ful retreat in a then howling wilderness, where they might rear 
the banner of liberty and dwell contented under its propitious 
shade, esteeming this more than all the treasures of a British 
Egypt, from whence they were driven forth. Methinks, I see 
them on the inhospitable shore they were hastening to leave, 
and hear them adopt the sentiment of the Psalmist Iv. 6, 7, to 
give it in the expressive language of Watts, with a small varia- 
tion : 

were I like a feathered dove, 

And innocence had wings ; 
I'd fly, and make a far remove. 

From perseciifimj Icings .' 

Nor was it the fostering care of Britain produced the rapid 
populating of these Colonies, but the tyranny and oppression, 
both civil and ecclesiastical, of that and other nations, con- 



35 

strained multitudes to resign every other earthly comfort, and 
leave their country and their friends, to enjoy in peace the fair 
possession of freedom in this western world. It is this has 
reared our cities, and turned the wilderness, so far and w'ide, 
into a fruitful field. America's sons, very few excepted, were 
all refugees; the chosen spirits of various nations that could 
not, like Issachar, bow doivn between the two burdens of the ac- 
cursed cruelty of tyranny in church and state. And can it be 
supposed that the Lord has so far forgot to be gracious, or shut 
up his tender mercies in his wrath, to favor the arms of op- 
pression, and to deliver up this asylum to slavery and bondage 't 
Can it be supposed that the God who made man free, and en- 
graved in indefeasible characters the love of liberty in his mind, 
should for])id freedom, already exiled from Asia, Africa, and 
under sentence of banishment from Europe — that he should for- 
bid her to erect her banner here, and constrain her to abandon 
the earth ? As soon shall he reverse creation, and forbid yon- 
der sun to shine ! To the Jews he preserved their cities of 
refuge ; and whilst sun and moon endure, America shall re- 
main a CITY OF KEFUGE FOR THE WHOLE EARTH ; until she her- 
self shall play the tyrant, disgrace her freedom, and 'provoke 
her God ! When that day shall come, if ever, then, and not 
till then, shall she also fall, " slain with those that go down to 
the pit !" 

3. The spirit and ardent love of liberty that has possessed 
these colonies so wide and far, is a strong evidence of a morn- 
ing, a bright morning hastening on. It is the same spirit that 
inspired our forefathers' breasts, when first they left their 
native shores, and embarked for this then howling desert. 
Their mortal part has mingled with the dust, but the surviving 
spirit has triumphed over death and the grave, and descended 
to their sons ; and it is this spirit, beating high in the veins of 
their offspring, has roused them so unanimous and determined 
in the present struggle. 'Tis this spirit has formed our exten- 
sive Union, and inspired our councils with that magnanimity 
and lustre that astonishes half the world. 'Tis this spirit has 
enrolled your congresses and conventions in the annals of im- 
mortal fame. 'Tis this spirit has enabled your dear, sufiering 
brethren, in yonder once flourishing city,* now almost a ruinous 
heap, to endure joyfully the spoiling of their goods ; glorying 
to be accounted Avorthy to sufi'er in the honorable cause ! 'Twas 
this spirit that ranked a Warren, a Montgomery and others, 
upon the list of proto-martyrs for American liberty. And this 
same spirit has led you forth, ye patriot bands, associated in 

* Boston. 



36 

your country's cause, and will, I trust, still urge you on to 
noble deeds, and bravely to prefer a glorious death to slavery 
and chains ! 

And this — what shall I call it less than a divine afflatus 
so generally prevailing through all ranks, in the cabinet and in 
the field — is an argument from heaven that America shall rise 
triumphant over the proud waves and raging billows that now 
threaten her ruin ! When a nation is to be destroyed, she is, 
as described by Hosea vii. 11, " like a silly dove without heart ;" 
but when [here, again, the enthusiasm of the writer becomes 
too great for words, and we have another hiatus. May we ven- 
ture to complete it?] but when this divine afflatus comes upon 
a nation, and it is refreshed, like a giant with new wine, the 
omen is sure and the victory inevitable ! 

4. There is great reason to believe that the Church of Christ 
is yet to have a glorious day in America. 

Religion, like the sun, rose in the east, and has continued its 
progress in a western direction. Once it flourished in Asia. 
Now it is almost total darkness there. From thence, it came 
to Europe, and there shone bright for a season ; but scenes of 
persecution harassed it, and the shadov/s of a dark evening 
have long been gathering round it. America seems to have 
been prepared as the wilderness to which the woman should fly 
from the face of the dragon, and be nourished for a long series 
of time. Rev. xii. 6. God has here planted his church — he 
has hedged it round, and made it to flourish ; and though there 
have been some few, some very few remains of a mistaken zeal 
for piety, in attempting to fetter the minds of men with pains 
and penalties, yet it may with great justice be said, in no part 
of the earth does religious liberty equally prevail, and just sen- 
timents of the rights of conscience obtain, as in this land. 
Here has pure and undefiled religion lengthened her cords and 
strengthened her stakes. Yonder to-day are the praises of 
God singing, and the word of his grace proclaimed, Avhere but 
a few years back his name was not known, nor anything heard 
but the yells of savage beasts, or poor indarkened Indian tribes, 
equally ignorant of the true God as the beasts themselves. 

How large an addition to the kingdom of Christ has been 
made in this land ! The king of glory has here indeed gone 
forth, with his sword on his thigh, riding prosperously in state, 
conquering and to conquer ! The progress of this kingdom is 
still continued with a rapid career ; and shall his foes tear the 
laurels from the brow of the great Redeemer ? and deliver his 
victory and glorious prospects into slavery and thraldom ! For- 
bid it, Jesus, from thy throne ! It shall not take place ! The 



37 

church shall flourish here and hold on her "way triumphant, in 
spite of Kings, Lord, Commons, and Devils, until yonder vast 
unexplored western regions shall all resound the praises of 
God, and the unenlightened tribes of the wilderness shall know 
and adore our Immanuel. And as civil and religious liberty 
live or languish together, so shall the civil liberty of America 
hold pace with the triumphs of the Gospel throughout this ex- 
tensive land. 

Though we are wicked enough, God knows, and have much 
need of repentance and returning to our God, as we would 
wish and hope for his favor, yet we are not arrived to that 
degree of impiety, or that so generally prevailing as is usually, 
and, I may say, always the case before God gives up and de- 
livers a land into the hand of their enemies; and this is an 
argument why Ave may yet hope for a morning and a further day. 

G. The peculiar hand of Providence that has evidently led 
us hitherto, and the remarkable smiles of heaven on our at- 
tempts thus far for our defence, and his frowns upon those that 
have risen up against us, afford also a pleasing prospect. 
"Had not the Lord," now may America say, ''had not the 
Lord been on our side * * the proud waters had gone over our 
soul." " Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven 
and earth. Psalm cxxiv. 

In all these things I have mentioned, to which more might 
be added, God speaks clearly in his providence, as on Sinai out 
of the cloud ; and to us is the watchman's reply. The morning 
COMETH, though a space of night may intervene. How long 
before it may arise, or in what manner the clouds shall break 
before it, or Avhat connection America then shall have with any 
other nation (Britain going down to the deep !) or whether with 
any at all, that God who directs her counsels will determine !" 

If the old Pine street Pastor was wont to preach such ser- 
mons as this, we arc not at all surprised at the continual out- 
bursts against him of Tory malice, of which let the following 
extract from "The Word of Congress," by Rev. (?) Jonathan 
Odell (1779) suffice : 

"A saint of old, as learned monks have said, 
Preached to the fish, the fish his voice obeyed : 
The same good man convened the grunting herd, 
"Who bowed obedient to his powerful word ; 
Such energy had truth in days of yore. 
Falsehood and nonsense in our days have more : 
Dufiield avers them to be all in all. 
And mounts or quits the pulpit at their call. 



38 

In vain " New Light" displays her heavenly shine, 

In vain attract him oracles divine ; 

Chaplain of Congress give him to become, 

Light may be dark and oracles be dumb. 

It pleased Saint Anthony to preach to brutes, 

To preach to Devils best with Duffield suits." 

The Congress of 1776 Devils ! The verdict of posterity is 
somewhat diflferent. So, truly, says the poet : 

Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere, cadentquc, 
Qui^ nunc sunt in honore ! 



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